Rob McNealy by his own admission wasn’t far away from hitting his targets in the 2018 National Superstock 1000 season.

Racing in one of the most competitive series on the British Superbike Championship support packages McNealy has shown that he can compete with the top 15 on a regular basis.

Speaking about his 2018 season to Kent Sports News, Rob said: “We set ourselves a target for 2018 to qualify and regularly finish in the top 20, with hopefully top 15 point scoring finishes as my aim, so we were not too far away from our target really.”

McNealy achieved his best result of the season in front of his friends and family at his home circuit of Brands Hatch.

He added: “Yes, Brands was my best result of the year, especially as I was suffering that weekend with a bad back and so I was very pleased with Brands as this is the result I would like to achieve at every meeting.

“The extra pressure of racing at Brands doesn’t really bother me as although it’s my home race I don’t actually test or race there anymore than anyone else and to be honest, once you’re on the bike with your race head on you haven’t got time to think about anything else otherwise you find yourself rolling around in the gravel.”

The National Superstock 1000 championship as we said is one of the most competitive race series in not just the UK but Europe as well, something Rob agrees with.

“As you say the competition is very stiff from top to bottom in this class, probably the most competitive stock class in Europe.

“Providing you are realistic and accept that you’re racing at this level against the best riders and teams in the country, along with the top 12 being professional allowing them to train and go testing all week, then I’m generally happy with my achievements.”

Finally we asked Rob what his plans were for the 2019 race season and whether he would be staying in the Superstock class.

He said: “I am back in the Superstock 1000 series again this year. We have got a new 2019 BMW coming at the end of March that is a completely new bike and engine for this year and so I am looking forward to developing that and hopefully progressing up the order a bit in 2019.”